The Tea Party got a big boost this week when LeBron James announced (to comic effect) his plan to leave Cleveland and head for the greener pastures of Miami.
This wasn't just a slap in the face of our Socialist-in-Chief, Barack Obama, who had hoped that James would go to Chicago, but also to Joe Biden, who had confidently predicted that James would stay in Cleveland.
In other words, it was a big fucking deal.
The Tea Party got a big boost this week when LeBron James announced (to comic effect) his plan to leave Cleveland and head for the greener pastures of Miami.
This wasn't just a slap in the face of our Socialist-in-Chief, Barack Obama, who had hoped that James would go to Chicago, but also to Joe Biden, who had confidently predicted that James would stay in Cleveland.
In other words, it was a big fucking deal.
Tonight's Rescue Rangers are YatPundit, Got a Grip, pico, Purple Priestess, mem from somerville, and shayera; jlms qkw waved the editorial wand.
Our Natural World - And Its Lessons
Philosophical Compositions
Legislative Priorities and Such
Not Just Women's Issues
jotter informs in High Impact Diaries: July 9, 2010.
carolita uses Art History in Top Comments 7-10-10 – Frida Kahlo Edition.
Please use this open thread to promote your own diaries or your favorites of the day.
Tonight's Rescue Rangers are YatPundit, Got a Grip, pico, Purple Priestess, mem from somerville, and shayera; jlms qkw waved the editorial wand.
Our Natural World - And Its Lessons
Philosophical Compositions
Legislative Priorities and Such
Not Just Women's Issues
jotter informs in High Impact Diaries: July 9, 2010.
carolita uses Art History in Top Comments 7-10-10 – Frida Kahlo Edition.
Please use this open thread to promote your own diaries or your favorites of the day.
Lots of stuff in the weekend edition of the Wrap, including new public polling to chew on in the Volunteer State, a high-profile candidate heading for the exits, and a GOP newcomer proving what everyone already suspected--he's a complete and total jerk.
All this (and more!) in the weekend edition of the Wrap...
THE U.S. SENATE
CA-Sen: Respected Field poll sees close November race for Boxer
California's Field Poll has, for decades, been considered the gold standard for polls in the Golden State. If they are right, Barbara Boxer has the edge in her third re-election bid against former HP exec Carly Fiorina, but it is a narrow edge, to be sure. This week's incarnation of the poll had Fiorina trailing Boxer by three points (47-44). This is a similar finding to an Ipsos poll conducted last week.
GA-Sen: Thurmond undisputed leader in Dem primary
It would seem, at this point, to be a fait accompli that statewide labor commissioner Michael Thurmond will be successful in his bid to win the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate. He holds a 64-13 edge over virtual unknown R.J. Hadley in the race to earn the right to challenge incumbent Republican Johnny Isakson in November.
SC-Sen: Greene dodges one of his two legal bullets
While his sexual obscenity charge is still making its way through the courts, accidental Senate nominee Alvin Greene did get one piece of good legal news to close out the week. The Democrat learned that he will avoid charges that arose from the curious quandary of how Greene managed to pay a five-figure filing fee when he claimed poverty in asking for a public defender. The SLED (State Law Enforcement Division) investigation found it plausible that Greene was able to pay the fee through a combination of his military exit pay and tax refunds.
WV-Sen: Identity of interim Senator to wait on special session?
It looks like it will be at least a week until we know who will replace the late Senator Robert Byrd in the Mountaineer State. Governor Joe Manchin called for the special session to change the state law on this matter, and it will begin on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Hotline's Reid Wilson takes a look at the pool of alternatives for Governor Manchin to consider in the event of a 2010 special election. Among the more intriguing names on the list are former Democratic Governors Gaston Caperton and Bob Wise, although neither of them appear likely to accept such a bid. An intriguing name is Anne Barth, a former Byrd staffer who ran a respectable race for Congress against Shelley Moore Capito in 2008, claiming 43% of the vote.
THE U.S. HOUSE
AL-02: Is Barber gathering his armies for an upset win?!
He has run some of the most ridiculous (and, some would say, offensive) ads in the 2010 campaign cycle. But the Washington Post is now wondering aloud if there might not be method to the madness. Having barely missed winning outright, establishment favorite Martha Roby now has to contend with a teabagger opponent that has raised his profile considerably since the June 1st primary. WaPo wonders if Roby's primary edge was a function of both name recognition and superior early money, and also wonders if Barber's avalanche of free media has pulled him closer to parity. Something to consider for the runoff, which is coming up this Tuesday.
FL-25: David Rivera's ugly week
It has not been a stellar week for establishment Republican frontrunner David Rivera, the close pal of Senate nominee Marco Rubio who has been charged with the responsibility of holding the seat of outgoing GOP Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart in South Florida. Yesterday, Rivera found himself in some hot water for skating on the edge of propriety by using a mailer targetting employees of Florida International University, using professors from the school as endorsers. The Rivera mailer forced FIU to issue a memo warning against the use of public resources (in this case, the Rivera campaign obtained the addresses through a public records request) for political gain.
That came on the heels of Rivera risking his street cred with the anti-Cuba community when his public stands in favor of the Cuban Embargo were contradicted by his close friendship with a Miami-area businessman who facilitates trade with Cuba.
And Rivera also presided over a raucuous meeting of the local GOP, where two of his primary rivals called for his resignation as the Miami-Dade GOP chairman.
MI-02: Teabagger on teabagger dealmaking, or just a stab at humor?
Depending on the teabagger you believe, either one candidate dangled a job offer as he tried to cajole the other out of the crowded GOP primary to replace Peter Hoekstra in western Michigan, or the job-dangling candidate was merely joking around. Local deputy sheriff Ted Schendel claims that fellow teabagger candidate Bill Cooper has approached him and his daughter "eight or nine times" since the start of the year asking him to drop out of the race and endorse Cooper. Schendel even claims that Cooper offered him a job running Cooper's Congressional office if he won. Neither man is considered the favorite, and Schendel has yet to file an FEC report.
NC-02: Renee Ellmers...F*** Yeah!
On the surface, I will be the first to admit that this is not a major league political news story. Longshot GOP challenger Renee Ellmers, who is running against longtime Democratic incumbent Bob Etheridge, claimed the endorsement of two right-wing ideological PACs to close out the week. One is the Susan B. Anthony List, which is an anti-abortion group. The other is Tom Tancredo's anti-immigrant PAC. The reason I put this in the Wrap is simple: apparently, I never learned the name of Tancredo's PAC. It is called...wait for it...Team America.
OH-12: Dueling pollsters still show GOP incumbent in solid shape
Depending on whose internal pollster you trust, Republican Congressman Pat Tiberi is either in solid shape, or really solid shape, against Democratic challenger Paula Brooks. Public Opinion Strategies (you can affectionately call them P.O.S.) polled for Tiberi, and they found the incumbent way out in front, with Tiberi notching 53% to a mere 28% for Brooks. Libertarian Travis Irvine also claimed 5% of the vote. By way of rebuttal, Team Brooks responded with an internal poll of their own, but even that one had Tiberi out in front by double digits. The Brooks poll, by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner, had Tiberi at 48%, Brooks at 36%, and Irvine at 10%. That poll, though, was pretty dusty, having been conducted in the first week of June.
THE GUBERNATORIAL RACES
AL-Gov: Dueling pollsters muddy runoff picture
Either Bradley Byrne is pretty well out of it, or he is leading, depending on whose poll you are buying out of the Deep South. A poll out from Baselice Associates for Public Strategy Associates says that state legislator Robert Bentley has a formidable lead over Byrne (53-33), while Team Byrne is flogging their own internal poll showing Byrne up four points. We'll know soon enough--the runoff election is this Tuesday.
AZ-Gov: Republican field shrinks, as Dean Martin heads for exits
The right-wing resurgence of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has paid further dividends for the incumbent, as one of her most formidable rivals for the nomination, state treasurer Dean Martin has decided to suspend his campaign and endorse the incumbent. Martin follows self-funder John Munger, who left the race last month. Businessman Buz Mills stays in the race, as does longshot Matthew Jette, who is actually running a unique campaign as the sole Republican to oppose SB 1070.
FL-Gov: Rick Scott--Pro-Life. Exploiter of Familial Pain
It is generally expected that candidates will exploit just about anything in order to score political points. By any objective standards, however, this is really quite disgusting. Scott, in an effort to shore up his pro-life bonafides, has taken to telling a story about how he fought a lawsuit by a Texas family who sued the hospital because the hospital (which had been acquired by Scott's company after the fact) had used extraordinary measures to deliver the family's child at just 23 weeks, despite the parental insistence that no "extra-heroic" measures be taken that would case suffering to the child. The child survived, but was blinded and severely brain damaged. The parents, who are themselves pro-life on the abortion issue, are objecting to Scott using their family's tragedy for his own narrow political ends.
GA-Gov: Barnes clear lead for Dems, GOP picture much more muddled
SurveyUSA is out with new polls for the only statewide primary scheduled for the month of July, the pending primaries in the Peach State. The pollster finds the frontrunners from each party remain the frontrunners, although the GOP picture is a bit less clear. On the Democratic side, SUSA finds Roy Barnes avoiding a runoff, leading Thurbert Baker by a healthy 56-18 margin, while the other candidates in the Dem field lag well behind. PPP (PDF file) also polled the Dem primary for a private client. They have it closer (49-19), but not so close that Barnes is likely to be forced into a runoff.
Meanwhile, on the GOP side, a runoff appears inevitable. Longtime frontrunner John Oxendine still leads, but his edge over Secretary of State Karen Handel is down to nine points (32-23). The top two have cleared the field a bit, however, as Congressman Nathan Deal and Eric Johnson both trail well behind at 12%. If Deal can hang his hat on anything, he is a clear second place among the relatively small pool of voters (10% of the electorate) that have already voted.
IA-Gov: Can Branstad afford his campaign promises?
It's a departure from the typical breaking news stuff, but every now and again, it is fun on the Wrap to highlight good local analysis from local bloggers. Tonight, a little campaign analysis from desmoinesdem from Bleeding Heartland is worth a read. The post catches Terry Branstad in a familiar position for Republicans in an election year: promising voters lots of the spending they want, while trying to also reassure them of some bizarre semblance of financial austerity. Shockingly, the math turns really fuzzy.
MI-Gov: Bernero notches pair of significant local endorsements
Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero has already been more than holding his own in the endorsement derby, and he got a pair of key endorsements on Saturday from two veterans of Capitol Hill with ties to the all-important Detroit African-American community. Both John Conyers and Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick endorsed Bernero today.
TN-Gov: Public poll shows Haslam winning primary and general
Two things become abundantly clear in the wake of a new public poll out this week in Tennessee on behalf of television station WSMV: Bill Haslam is the betting favorite to be the GOP nominee, and any Republican is favored to replace Democrat Phil Bredesen as the state's next Governor. Haslam leads the primary, according to the poll, with 32% of the vote. Congressman Zach Wamp is currently in the second spot at 21%, while Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey is further behind at 11%. Unlike Georgia, where Oxendine's nine-point edge seems a bit perilous, the eleven-point lead here means a bit more, since there is no runoff in the Tennessee election process. Meanwhile, the general election seems to be a walk for the GOP: Haslam leads near-certain Democratic nominee Mike McWherter by a gaudy 60-34 margin. Wamp (59-35) and Ramsey (51-41) also hold an edge over the Democratic standard-bearer.
THE RAS-A-POLL-OOZA
A fairly small set of offerings to close the week at the House of Ras (consigned, as Crisitunity of SSP put it so well the other day, to a "containment pool" at the close of the Wrap).
Democrats do marginally better, but still trail, in South Dakota. Meanwhile, West Virginia's prospective Senate race looks to be a lock for Democratic Governor Joe Manchin. Finally, the Ras-sies follow up their Senate poll in the Land of Lincoln by finding the Democratic Governor of the state in marginally better shape than he was last month.
IL-Gov: Bill Brady (R) 43%, Gov. Pat Quinn (D) 40%
SD-Gov: Dennis Daugaard (R) 52%, Scott Heidepriem (D) 35%
SD-AL: Kristi Noem (R) 49%, Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin (D) 44%
WV-Sen: Joe Manchin (D) 53%, Shelley Moore Capito (R) 39%
WV-Sen: Joe Manchin (D) 65%, Betty Ireland (R) 26%
The official deadline for candidates to file their second quarterly FEC reports is looming this coming Thursday. But a lot of campaigns are teasing their numbers a bit early, hoping to highlight their legitimacy for the Fall campaign.
Culled from a number of sources (although the intrepid work of both Reid Wilson and the crew at SSP really stand out), here is a summary of some of the high-profile numbers released to-date.
The House races will wait till the beginning of the week, simply because their sheer volume dictates a separate posting. For now, let's look at the statewide races.
THE U.S. SENATE
THE GUBERNATORIAL RACES
There are some places and some times in the west when things can feel as crowded as any city. Slotting your car in among the Winnebagos at the eastern entrance to Yellowstone on a July afternoon is about as much fun as crossing the Triborough Bridge at rush hour. Only slower.
But you don't have to move too far from the tourist spots -- either in space or in time -- to find solitude. Come back to Yellowstone in late winter and you'll discover that you're sharing the park with no one but thousands of elk wandering down the roads between walls of snow (elk that are in no hurry to move when you approach). A winter visit to the Navajo Nation Park in Monument Valley will find the stalls closed and the guides absent. You'll be left to either risk your own suspension, or your ankles, picking your way along the rutted dirt road between the walls of ocher stone. Visit Devil's Tower on a crisp fall morning, and you can tromp all the way around the basalt tower with no one to see you but some porcupines nibbling away at pine bark. Visit the Little Bighorn Battlefield in October, and you'll have only the wind through the high grass for company.
And at any time of the year, you only have to move a few miles from the tourist zones to find endless miles of rolling prairie, or the tight walls of many-hued canyons, or the snow-spattered heights of a stony mountaintop. Take a short hike off a highway and you can come across a circle of stones placed on the ground more then 4,000 years ago by people unknown for reasons unknown. Or a cabin made entirely from the fossilized bones of dinosaurs. Or the rain-worn marker left by sodbusters mourning the passage of their youngest child, the words still barely visible in the pale stone: Light of our lives now extinguished, and the whole world made night.
When I was a kid, it seemed like westerns were everywhere on TV, at the movies, on the bookshelves. I couldn't stand them. It was my grandfather who always had a tattered Zane Grey or Jack Schaefer paperback in one hand and a fondness for Gunsmoke. It wasn't until I'd spent years working my way across the west that I picked up some of those old novels and read The Code of the West, and Shane and Riders of the Purple Sage.
Once I started reading them, I never stopped. They make me think about cold streams and high places. About alkali flats under an August sun. About stubborn cottonwoods waiting patiently along a dry arroyo. They make me think about my grandfather. And they make me want to leave behind the house and the car and just walk, walk, walk.
Here are some of my favorites.
True Grit by Charles Portis
If you can't think of this work without seeing John Wayne, that's understandable. But throw away your image of Rooster. Pitch out Kim Darby's spunky rendition of Mattie. And for God's sake, don't bring Glen Campbell into it. This is a nearly perfect novel. Maybe the best I've ever read. Not my favorite western, my favorite book. The Rooster here is less a lovable scoundrel and most plain old scoundrel. The prose is sharp, hard, and as efficient as a Henry rifle. It's written from Mattie's perspective, and it's really Mattie who is a revelation. Somewhere in the book Rooster is described as "pitiless." Maybe so, but Mattie is driven, determined, and a damn sight harder than any of the men who cross her path. She does what she needs to -- anything that she needs to -- to extract every ounce of justice from Tom Chaney. She is a force of nature, and both her actions and the prose are straight as an arrow. Remember that team of trackers and bounty hunters that get sent after Butch and Sundance? The "who are those guys" guys? Yeah, well, I'd rather have that whole crew after me any day of the week than be crossways with Mattie Ross.
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
There are some books that make me smile in admiration, and a very few that make me gawp in astonishment. This is one of those few. Read the first chapter. Now read it again. Yeah, there's hogs going after a snake, and an old man lazing on a porch, and a couple of other men and... wait. What kind of viewpoint is that? It's not cold and remote, not omniscient. But not limited. We slide from behind one pair of eyes and off to the next as smoothly as a flowing stream. How'd that happen? That kind of casual treatment of POV should have been confusing, but it wasn't. As a writer, it's like watching someone do a really delightful bit of close-up magic, and do it again, and do it again, without ever giving away the trick. No matter how closely I read it, I can't see how McMurtry works his card trick, but it's there and it's wonderful. With that trick well in hand, Lonesome Dove paints a story that is (forgive the trite phrase) as big as the west. Melodramatic. Tragic. Hilarious. And if there's one character in all of western literature that might be the match of Mattie Ross, it's Augustus McCrae. The two of them ought to sit down for a drink sometime, or at least a glass of buttermilk.
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
A lot of people would argue that All the Pretty Horses is really McCarthy's best (and it's at the top of more than one Best Western Novels list), but I like this book better. Unlike most of McCarthy's work, the plot here is right out in front of you, easy to grasp from start to finish. And yet there are plenty of things that go unsolved, evil that goes unpunished, and dramatic tension left unresolved. At the center of the story is a Vietnam vet who comes across the aftermath of a drug deal gone bad. He's competent, thoughtful, and decisive. And it's not enough -- not with what he's up against. Likewise, the local sherriff is understanding, caring, and able to see the truth of what's happening in his county. And it doesn't help. And the bad guy... is something else. Every Cormac McCarthy novel is a new revelation, and this one offers more than what you'd think from a description of the plot.
The Virginian: A Horseman of the Plains by Owen Wister
If you take the road northwest out of Laramie, Wyoming you'll come across the little town of Medicine Bow, the setting for much of Owen Wister's 1903 novel. Wister was writing at a time when the "wild west" was a very recent memory (Butch, Sundance, and Etta had sailed off from New York but the "Bandidos Yanquis" were still running around Bolivia). The fictionalized version of the Johnson County War that formed the middle of the novel were only a decade in the past. In a lot of ways, this book is the foundation stone for everything that comes after -- the ur-western. Sure, you can fault it for championing the cause of wealthy landowners and their hired guns, but... you better smile when you say that, partner. If you want to get some idea of what things were like at the time, you can stop at the little hotel in Medicine Bow and select a room full of period furniture. But be warned: the experience may be a little too authentic, as in no facilities in the room but a rusty washbasin and mattresses on the beds that were last turned around the time Annie Oakley was shooting glass balls in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show.
Here's another reason for Gov. Joe Manchin to get a temporary appointment into the late Sen. Robert Byrd's seat as soon as possible. The vote count for financial reform is still in question.
WASHINGTON—Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley is "very concerned" about a provision in the financial overhaul bill designed to pay for the legislation, an aide said Thursday, potentially complicating White House efforts to build a filibuster-proof majority to back the measure....
Democrats and White House officials likely need the support of at least two Republicans to secure the 60 votes necessary to block a potential filibuster.
Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) has said she's "inclined" to support the bill. White House officials are also targeting the votes of Sens. Olympia Snowe of Maine and Scott Brown of Massachusetts. Both have said they are using the July recess to study the bill. Congressional aides believe both could ultimately back the bill.
If Byrd's seat is left open and Grassley balks, Reid has to get Collins, Snowe, and Brown. The legislation has already been compromised in order to try to get Brown--what could these three exact as their price for supporting this bill? It could play out in compromises to upcoming jobs and unemployment insurance extensions. Snowe and Collins have already fought against the critical aid to states to help them cover growing Medicaid enrollments. What more are they going to ask for?
Here's another reason for Gov. Joe Manchin to get a temporary appointment into the late Sen. Robert Byrd's seat as soon as possible. The vote count for financial reform is still in question.
WASHINGTON—Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley is "very concerned" about a provision in the financial overhaul bill designed to pay for the legislation, an aide said Thursday, potentially complicating White House efforts to build a filibuster-proof majority to back the measure....
Democrats and White House officials likely need the support of at least two Republicans to secure the 60 votes necessary to block a potential filibuster.
Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) has said she's "inclined" to support the bill. White House officials are also targeting the votes of Sens. Olympia Snowe of Maine and Scott Brown of Massachusetts. Both have said they are using the July recess to study the bill. Congressional aides believe both could ultimately back the bill.
If Byrd's seat is left open and Grassley balks, Reid has to get Collins, Snowe, and Brown. The legislation has already been compromised in order to try to get Brown--what could these three exact as their price for supporting this bill? It could play out in compromises to upcoming jobs and unemployment insurance extensions. Snowe and Collins have already fought against the critical aid to states to help them cover growing Medicaid enrollments. What more are they going to ask for?
What’s coming up on Sunday Kos ....
